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Examines the background to building maintenance management, emphasizing its importance due to new developments in building design. Suggests that, owing to the use of less‐durable materials in construction the need for long‐term planning in order for maintenance to be profitable is important.

The study of spatial entities needs a model that is not only fully observable and controllable, but also computable. Euclidean topology on R² is a usually used tool for this study, but it has the following two weaknesses. First, there exists some phenomenon of human perception of the spatial entity that cannot be simulated by it. Second, its observation of the basic geometric properties (interior, exterior, boundary) of the spatial entity lacks computability so that the model based on it lacks computability and cannot be directly used to practical systems. Consequently, in this paper, we present another tool for studying spatial entities – raster quasi‐topology on R² and then compare the two tools.

New technologies have made the increased globalization of information resources and services possible. In this situation, it is ethically and intellectually beneficial to protect cultural and information diversity. This paper analyzes the problems of creating ethically based globally accessible and culturally acceptable knowledge representation and organization systems, and foundation principles for the ethical treatment of different cultures are established on the basis of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The concept of “cultural hospitality”, which can act as a theoretical framework for the ethical warrant of knowledge representation and organization systems, is described. This broad discussion is grounded with an extended example of one cultural universal, the concept of time and its expression in calendars. Methods of achieving cultural and user hospitality in information systems are discussed for their potential for creating ethically based systems. It is concluded that cultural hospitality is a promising concept for assessing the ethical foundations of new knowledge representation and organization systems and for planning revisions to existing systems.

A previously presented finite element shell formulation is extended to the application of large strains. The finite elements are those based on the concept of ‘the degenerated solids’, which are widely used in non‐linear finite element programs. The constitutive equation of hyperelastic incompressible material is adopted and specialized to the Mooney‐Rivlin law. The additional state variable, the hydrostatic pressure, which occurs for incompressible materials, is eliminated on element level using the plane stress condition. Attention is drawn to the efficient calculation of the element matrices by applying a layer concept. The effectiveness of the proposed total Lagrangian formulation is demonstrated in a number of example problems.

Gives introductory remarks about chapter 1 of this group of 31 papers, from ISEF 1999 Proceedings, in the methodologies for field analysis, in the electromagnetic community. Observes that computer package implementation theory contributes to clarification. Discusses the areas covered by some of the papers ‐ such as artificial intelligence using fuzzy logic. Includes applications such as permanent magnets and looks at eddy current problems. States the finite element method is currently the most popular method used for field computation. Closes by pointing out the amalgam of topics.

In this chapter, we propose a theoretical assessment of the relationship between unions and investments. We develop a simple model where a firm chooses its investment level anticipating the employee's effort choice and the outcome of wage bargaining. First, and consistently with the holdup view, we find that the union's bargaining power has a negative effect on the accumulation of fixed capital. Second, we show that this negative effect is mitigated by the voice ability of unions to ease the displeasure of exerting effort. Hence, when the voice ability of unions is strong vis-à-vis their bargaining power, the holdup view does not necessarily survive, and unionized firms invest more than their nonunionized competitors.

In this paper an attempt is made to find a mathematical model for a number of mainly electrophysiological results concerning pattern recognition of mammals. After a short introduction to the applied theory of linear nervous nets, the investigations in the retina and geniculate body are interpreted as filters for space‐ and time‐dependent oscillations. By application of the detection theory a functional model of the cortex regions 17, 18 and 19 is formed. The classification process is considered to be the spatial cross‐correlation, but by means of the present results it is not possible to draw complete conclusions on the structure of the recognition process.

The main function of hierarchies is to coordinate activities within an organization, but a hierarchical structure also provides work incentives, by offering the prospect of hierarchical mobility. An alternative way for organizations to motivate workers is through job design. In organizations offering rewarding jobs, the incentivizing role of hierarchies may become obsolete, and the number of hierarchical levels can be reduced. Two job design features are particularly relevant: autonomy and problem-solving. We investigate the relationship between the number of hierarchical layers and job design features empirically using the European Company Survey (ECS 2019). We find that the extent of the adoption of both complex job design and autonomous teamwork is negatively associated with the number of hierarchical layers. However, the association between complex job design and the number of hierarchical layers is weakened, and in some cases disappears, in larger organizations where hierarchies have a more important coordination role and it is weakened when the knowledge acquisition costs are high. The use of autonomous teams is robustly negatively associated with the number of hierarchical layers.

In the design of anisotropic materials, such as advanced fibre‐reinforced composites, the failure envelope has a crucial role. A geometrical representation of the envelope is of particular value to investigate the highly anisotropic nature of the strength of the material. This provides the design engineer with a visualization of the failure envelope by graphically representing it using a CAD package. Use is made of both stress‐based and strain‐based polynomial failure criteria and examples are given of changes in the failure envelope due to changes in fibre orientation for a high strength graphite/epoxy composite lamina.